lately I've noticed my best rifle loads tend to be with the powder burning right up to the bullet exiting the crown. this makes the powder burn rate critical to length of barrel. the way I check is primitive, shoot at night to check muzzle blast for still-burning powder. that only tells me the powder choice is too slow. too fast a powder causes hits all-over the paper. any thoughts worth sharing?

Maybe even more primitive, and a little harder in your part of the country. We used to test our muzzle-loaders in the winter snow. Check for unburnt powder 15/20 feet in front of the muzzle. Don't see why you couldn't use an old white cotton T-shirt. Like I said, primitive. But the same basic theory....

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I've never shot near dark with any powder and not had flames come out of the muzzle. I think the enormous heat and friction causes a flame no matter if the powder is still burning or not. Could be wrong on that one though. But I've shot Benchmark powder near dark in .22-250Rem and still get a little orange puff out of the muzzle. And Benchmark is the fastest burning powder that is recommended for .22-250Rem. And that's out of a 26" barrel. Maybe if the powder was still burning I'd have a huge flame?

I'd guess that it might be a coincidence that the best loads are still burning. This might be because most loads that are still burning are lower performers and your rifle might be partial to slightly slower loads. In my experience the best loads for a given rifle seem to be loads of a given velocity, regardless of the components that achieved that velocity.

If you really want to know about the burning, I'd suggest a program called QuickLoad ... it isn't free, but it can be VERY insightful. It is an interior ballistics model.

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